What is ghee?

[Grammabear]

The store where we do our grocery shopping has a long aisle of foods for a "healthy lifestyle".  Among the items offered there is ghee.  Can anyone explain to me what that is beyond clarified butter and what it is used for?  I did buy a small container of it and found when I opened it that it is solid, so I'm puzzled how to use it correctly.

[skb]

We use it for almost all our cooking. It is a good alternative to using butter in cooking. If ambient temperature is low, it does solidify but will melt easily on a low flame.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghee

[Shanny]

Being clarified butter is good enough for me. I keep my jar right by the stove & ghee is often the first thing to go into the cast iron skillet. Butter burns, ghee does not.

I wish I could get it locally, but I have to order mine online. I just bought a half-gallon of it last week.

[Grammabear]

Being clarified butter is good enough for me. I keep my jar right by the stove & ghee is often the first thing to go into the cast iron skillet. Butter burns, ghee does not.

I wish I could get it locally, but I have to order mine online. I just bought a half-gallon of it last week.

I have never tried ghee prior to this weekend and actually never heard of it until I happened across mention of it on a LCHF blog.  The blogger didn't go into great description, I guess she thought anyone reading her blog would already know how it works.  Can it be used in place of butter as in buttering vegetables after they are cooked, and is there any nutritional advantage to using it?  The little jar I bought at our store cost me almost $7 (which isn't cheap in my book).

[bigskygal]

Use ghee in all the same ways you would use butter.  I have it in my bpc each morning along with CO.  Eggs fried in it are yummy!! It sits on my shelf right next to my CO.

[Timewise]

I can understand it for cooking as it gives you all the flavor of butter but does not burn because it has no butter fat.   But, why would one use it on other products and give up the extra fat regular butter provides?  Maybe someone with an allergy or intolerance to milk fats?

I think you all know me by now....the more fat the better....!

[Tamagno]

I use ghee always as I'm convinced dairy is not good for diabetics.

No need to buy the stuff!

I make it by putting a pound of butter on low boil for 30-40 minutes.

Once you see the solids collected on top, use a small sieve to spoon them all out.

After that use a larger sieve lined with thin cotton cloth to strain the ghee (clarified butter) into whatever container you're using.

My ghee then resides comfortably on the counter where I use it in coffee (I use high-fat canned coconut milk run through a blender instead of heavy cream to lighten mine) and whatever else you use butter for.

No need for refrigeration and it doesn't lose any butter flavor.

[Timewise]

Tamango.....what about cheese, do you stay away from that also?  Are you allergic to milk products or?

[patdart]

I'm going to use mine today as it just came late yesterday and think I'll cook some eggs in it.

[bigskygal]

I can understand it for cooking as it gives you all the flavor of butter but does not burn because it has no butter fat.   But, why would one use it on other products and give up the extra fat regular butter provides?  Maybe someone with an allergy or intolerance to milk fats?

I think you all know me by now....the more fat the better....!

I just looked at my jar of ghee and it has 5g fat per tsp so 15 grams per Tbsp.  My Kerrygold butter has 11gr/fat per Tbsp, so the ghee is actually higher fat than butter. 

"Ghee is a more concentrated source of fats since the moisture and other milk solids have been removed. "  https://www.quora.com/Is-ghee-healthier-than-butter

[ami]

We get buffalo milk directly from milkman & not in a packet or bottle.
After it has been boiled, and cooled (refrigerated) overnight there is a thick layer of cream on the milk. That cream is collected over 20-25 days and churned to make butter. We boil this butter till the ghee separates from the caramel butter which is strained as mentioned by Tamagno above.

[starsign]

That's very much we do as well. But if we run short then I have to buy commercially available products.